Selanne Gives Birth to Victory

There’s another Selanne in the world now, and somebody should stop the Mighty Ducks before they try to fit the infant with skates.

Teemu Selanne missed one game and hadn’t skated for three days after going back to Winnipeg for the birth of his first child, but he returned Sunday with an exuberant three-goal performance in the Ducks’ 4-3 victory over San Jose at the Pond of Anaheim.

How’s that for a trade? Selanne hands out cigars; Duck fans throw him hats.

“I was thinking before the game it would be nice to score one goal for him,” said Selanne, whose son, born Friday, is named Eemil Ilmari Selanne. “I was tired, but I was so excited I didn’t realize I was tired.”

It was the second hat trick of Selanne’s season and the ninth of his career, but it was only the second in Duck history, and the first since Terry Yake scored three goals against the New York Rangers on Oct. 19, 1993, in the franchise’s sixth game.

Selanne left on a red-eye flight after Wednesday night’s game against Boston and didn’t sleep again until 7 a.m. Friday after his fiancee, Sirpa, gave birth in the wee hours of Friday morning. After a big, happy dinner with friends Friday night, he got only four hours sleep before flying to Anaheim on Saturday for Sunday afternoon’s game.

“As soon as he walked in the dressing room, you could tell he was on such a high,” said defenseman Jason York, whose long pass sprung Selanne out on a breakaway for his second goal with 3:25 left in the first period. “He was giving us the play-by-play of the baby being born. Then he played so great. He was on such a high, the momentum of the birth kept him going, I guess.”

“He was just brimming with enthusiasm, telling stories about the baby,” Paul Kariya said. “He was pretty up. When the game started, he had really good jump right away. He was exploding off for those goals.”

Selanne’s first goal came 10:17 into the game when defenseman Bobby Dollas threw the puck toward the net from the far edge of the left circle. Selanne cut hard and fast to the front of the net and knocked the puck past San Jose goalie Chris Terreri.

“It’s like passing to Gretzky; you know there’s a good chance it will be a point,” Dollas said. “He drives to the net and you know he’s going to create something. Teemu’s over 200 pounds, with lighting speed, plus he finds holes. He’s pretty hard to stop. And not too many guys can take three days off from skating and look like they haven’t missed a beat.”

Selanne’s first two goals came with the Ducks and Sharks skating four-on-four in the penalty-filled early part of the game. Four on four only means more open ice for Selanne to use his speed, and he made the Sharks pay.

He scored his third goal only 1:07 into the second period, setting up near the left post and taking a cross-ice pass from Shaun Van Allen near the right wing boards.

The remarkable thing is Selanne easily could have had four or five goals if not for Terreri.

Selanne also had an assist on the game-winning goal, scored by Mike Sillinger at 10:35 of the second.